


Home isn't a place, it's a person

by BookwormBirdie44



Category: Six - Marlow/Moss
Genre: #SorryNotSorry, Abusive Parents, Adopted Sibling Relationship, Adoption, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Anne Angst, Aramour-Freeform, Asexual Anne Boleyn, Beheaded Cousins, Birthday Fluff, Bisexual Catherine Parr, Chaotic lesbians, Child Abuse, Child Neglect, Coming Out, Dance With You(song), Everyone Is Gay, F/F, Family Fluff, First Kiss, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Foster Care, Gay, How Do I Tag, I kinda do, I'm Sorry, Ice Cream, Katanna-Freeform, Kissing, Lesbian Anne Boleyn, Lesbian awakening, Marriage Proposal, No Beta read we die like men, Same-Sex Marriage, Sharing a Bed, Suicide Attempt, Unacceptable Parenting, anne is a goofball, because why not, but we still like her, cause I'm american, except her, gayyy, i don't make the rules, i just realized everyone's a lesbian in this book, i should know this by now, it's anne's mom, it's not catalina and jane, it's soccer not football, not important - Freeform, not sexual, ok moving on, oof, sorry Brits, this takes place in america, totally irrelevent but i had to, totally misspelled that, we're having a party here, whoops
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-01
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-03-13 02:34:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 16,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28895967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BookwormBirdie44/pseuds/BookwormBirdie44
Summary: After her suicide attempt, Anne Boleyn is sent to live with her cousin and her adoptive aunts for her last year of school. What happens she will never forget...ORThis was going to be an Aramour Foster Mom AU but it kinda morphed into this Parrlyn shitshow... my bad. Expect slowburn until Chapters 5-6 and then just a bunch of fluff and angst.Trigger Warnings in the notes before chapters
Relationships: Anne Boleyn & Katherine Howard, Anne Boleyn/Catherine Parr, Anne of Cleves/Katherine Howard (minor), Catherine of Aragon/Jane Seymour (minor), Katherine Howard & Jane Seymour, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 53
Kudos: 64





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> TW: Attempted Suicide in graphic detail. If you don't want to read that, just skip to chapter 1
> 
> Also here are the characters' ages for context: 
> 
> Catalina: Late-30s  
> Jane: Mid-30s  
> Anne: 17-18  
> Cathy: 17-18  
> Anna: 15-16  
> Kat: 15-16

_ Two Weeks Ago _

Anne stared at her ashen face in the bathroom mirror. Her once lively green eyes were dull, and her cheeks had lost their color. Her skin was a pasty white instead of its normal snow-like hue, and a faint red mark was on her face. Tears streamed down her cheeks, making rivers of colorless water. 

With a quiet sob, she sank down to the floor. Her head was in between her knees, and she was leaning against the shower. She needed something. Anything. 

She needed warm arms to wrap her in a hug, for a quiet voice to whisper words of comfort in her ear, for hands to wipe her tears away and say  _ I love you.  _

But Anne knew that what she needed was just a fantasy. She would never get that. She could only receive that love in her wildest dreams. In dreams so far away it would be impossible to reach them. 

She would be more likely to die than to achieve that dream. 

Because in her house, nobody hugged her, or comforted her, or wiped her tears. They hit, yelled, and made her cry more. They hurt her until she could barely move, screamed until her ears rang, made her cry until tears passed and she made loud, empty sobs. 

Anne could barely remember the last time someone said  _ I love you  _ to her. It had to be ten years ago, when she was about seven years old. She was snuggled against her father in her bed, he was reading a bedtime story to her. When he finished the book, he kissed the top of her head and said “Good night,  _ cherie,  _ I love you”. 

That was the last time Anne had seen her father. When she woke up the next morning, she saw her mother sobbing at the kitchen table, a cigarette in between her fingers. Anne had quietly asked what was wrong. Her mother glared at her and said, “He’s gone and isn’t coming back.” Anne, being only seven, asked why. The next thing Anne knew, an angry red slap mark was on her cheek. 

Anne’s sister, Mary, had walked in just at that time and screamed. Since that moment, Mary had been Anne’s protector. She always looked out for Anne, fended off bullies, and was the one who made sure Anne made contact with their mom as little as possible. 

That is, until she left for college two years ago. 

Now, Mary called only once a month. She came back for Christmas, because that was the time their mom was home the most. Sometimes she came home for the occasional weekend, and she’d take Anne out to dinner. But aside from that, Anne never saw Mary anymore. 

Which was why Anne was here, sobbing in her bathroom after her mom had hit her once again. 

Anne wasn’t like Mary. Not at all. Mary was strong and resilient. She could always fight back, and defend herself. Anne couldn’t. Anne could only curl up in a ball and scream and pray and sob until it was over. 

That’s why, after Mary left, Anne broke. 

Anne looked up from between her knees. Her hands searched the floor, looking for something. Anne didn’t know what that something was until she opened the medicine cabinet. Inside was her mother’s pills. Prescriptions were taped up on the inside of the door, but the amount of them was clearly outnumbered by the amount of bottles. 

With tears streaming down her face, Anne scribbled down a note and left it on the toilet seat. Then, she grabbed a random bottle and dumped at least half of the pills on her palm. 

She filled a cup of water and swallowed. 

She didn’t hear the front door slam open and Mary’s voice call out “I’m home! Where are you, Anne?” She didn’t hear footsteps towards her room, or to the bathroom. She didn’t hear the door open. 

All she heard was the scream. 


	2. New Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anne is adopted by Jane and Catalina, and she meets Kat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you skipped the prologue, here's a summary of it:   
> It was basically a lot of background for Anne, but her father died when she was seven, and her mom was abusive. Her sister didn't really pay attention to her. She attempted suicide, but her sister found her in the nick of time.

Mary had come home as a surprise. After she saw Anne laying on the ground, the bottle of pills in her hand, she called 911. The paramedics came right away and were able to save Anne, and she is not allowed near any medicine unless it is prescribed to her and legally cannot go to the pharmacy without a parent or guardian. 

Once Anne’s caseworker realized that Anne’s mother was abusive and not fit for parenting, they brought social services in. Soon Anne had a social worker who was looking for any family members. That’s when they found Katherine Howard, who was Anne’s cousin on her mother’s side. Katherine was a few years younger then Anne. She was adopted by two women at the age of eight and was also a child abuse survivor. 

Now, two weeks after Anne’s suicide attempt, she was meeting her cousin’s adoptive moms. 

“Anne?” a deep male voice asks.

“Yes?” Anne responds, stepping into the room. There’s three people in it. One is her social worker, who was a tall man with brown hair and always dressed in suits. The other two were smiling women. One had long blonde hair done in a halfback, and the other had skin the color of chocolate and warm brown eyes that told Anne that they were both friendly.

“Anne, this is Catalina de Aragon and Jane Seymour. Their adopted daughter, Katherine, is your cousin. They are interested in adopting you.” Jane smiles. 

“But I’m almost eighteen. I can live without my mom.” Anne says. Jane’s smile droops.

“Anne, you can’t legally move out until you’re eighteen. And also, we’re worried that if you  _ do  _ move out, you might...attempt again.” her social worker responds. 

Anne looks up at the two women. They adopted her cousin, whom she had never met, but that  _ did  _ mean they were good parents. They definitely seemed nice and caring. 

“I’ll leave you all to get acquainted.” the social worker says as he leaves the room. 

“Anne, we’ve heard all about you. Kat, our daughter, is excited to meet you.” Jane says in a soft voice. That voice gives Anne comfort, and it reminds her of her dad. Suddenly, her last moments with him and the first time her mom hit her flash into her mind. Tears start to pour down her cheeks. 

“Hey, hey, it’s gonna be ok.” Jane says again. Catalina wraps her in a hug. The feeling of her arms around Anne make her cry harder, and she ends up slumped against them. 

“So Anne, how would you like it to come live with us?” Catalina asks. Her voice reminds Anne of chocolate chip cookies. “We live not far from here, maybe thirty minutes. There’s a school you can go to for your senior year, Kat goes there already. How does that sound?” 

Anne nods. “That sounds...okay.” she gives a weak smile through sniffs. 

\---

After two hours of paperwork and a long discussion with her social worker, Anne, Jane, and Catalina arrive at their house. It’s a big white Tudor (see what I did there) with black shutters and a red door. A carefully tended rose garden is in the front, and from the looks of it, there is a large backyard. 

“Your home is beautiful.” Anne marvels. 

“Why thank you!” Catalina says. 

Anne grabs her duffel bag from the car trunk and follows Jane and Catalina to the door. The second she steps in, a girl with a long brown ponytail with a shock of pink at the end flies out of nowhere and introduces herself. 

“Hi Anne! I’m Kat. I’m excited for you to be here!” the fifteen year old girl says. 

“Uhm, hi? I… I’m glad I’m here too.” Anne replies. 

“KitKat, why don’t you show Anne around the house and to her room?” Jane suggests. “We’ll prepare dinner. Anne, how does mac and cheese sound?” 

“Good?” 

“Great!” Jane replies, and Kat grabs Anne’s hand. Anne tenses at the sudden contact. 

“Should I not touch you?” Kat asks, dropping her voice. “I get it. I’m sorry.” 

“No, it’s ok, I’m fine.” Anne says. 

“Are you sure?” Kat says. Anne nods. 

“Ok. Right now, we’re in the living room.” Anne looks around the brightly lit area. A red sofa is against the wall across from a TV. Next to it is a white armchair. The back wall has a huge bookcase, and in the middle of the room is a round white carpet with a coffee table covered with magazines and photo albums. 

“The kitchen’s over there, we usually eat at the kitchen table. We do have a dining room, it’s that-a-way.” Kat says, pointing. “Past the living room is a bathroom and guest room.” 

“Ok…” 

“And here…” Kat says, grabbing Anne’s hand and pulling her upstairs. “... are the bedrooms!” 

Anne gasps at what she sees. She’s standing in a hallway. On her left is the master bedroom and what looks like a library. On her right are two more bedrooms, undoubtedly her and Kat’s rooms. At the end of the hallway is a huge window overlooking the backyard. 

“Wow!” Anne says. Kat pulls her into the second door on the left. 

“This is your bedroom. Your caseworker said you liked green.”

Anne smiles. The room is nice, with a twin bed tucked in the left corner sporting a forest green bedspread. Next to that is a nightstand. Across the room is a desk facing a window. The back wall has a dresser and a mirror. 

“I’ll leave you to get settled.” Kat says. She disappears out the door. 

Anne tenderly sits down on the bed. The mattress is very comfortable, it almost feels like she’s sitting on air. She takes one more sweeping glance at the room before getting up to unpack her clothes. 

\---

“Anne! Dinner!” Jane’s voice calls from downstairs. Anne runs toward the kitchen. 

“So, Anne, how do you feel?” Catalina says, serving her a giant bowl of mac and cheese. 

“Can I be honest?” Anne asks. 

“Of course!” 

“A bit overwhelmed, actually. I mean, I’m happy to be here, but it’s all so  _ new.  _ I feel like I’m living in a dream.” 

“Is it a good dream?” Kat asks. 

“Yes. It’s a great dream.” Anne says. She’s sure of it. 

“Well, dream or no dream, glad you’re feeling good. But we do need to talk about something.” Jane says.

“Oh boy.” Anne mumbles.

“School.” 

Anne groans. 

“There’s a high school close by, Kat’s a sophomore there. You’ll be starting Monday.” Catalina says. “It’s not too big, but then again, you are joining pretty late in the year, in March.” 

“What time does it start at?” Anne asks.

“Nine A.M. It lets out at three.” 

“Thank God. My last school started at seven-forty-five.” 

“Seven-forty-five?! Daaamn.” Kat says. 

“Katherine. Swear jar.” Jane says sternly. 

“Oops.” Kat says. She gets up and drops two quarters in the jar. 

“Two quarters per word, unless if it’s a slur, in that case it’s a whole dollar.” Jane clarifies. “Speaking of money, we’ve agreed to give you an allowance of ten dollars a week until you find a part-time job.” 

Anne whistles. “Ten dollars.” she whispers. 

“We need to discuss a few rules for this house.” Catalina says. “Curfew is eleven p.m., no later. You do your own laundry every other week. You’ve seen the swear jar, so that leaves…” she trails off. 

“Your phone. Do you have one?” Jane asks. Anne nods, pulling out her phone.

“Good. We’ll put our contacts on there later, but we do have some rules for this thing.” Jane taps the case and smiles. “No phones at mealtimes or after midnight unless it’s for school or work purposes.” 

“They run a tight ship.” Kat says, smiling. “Loving, yes, but  _ tight. _ ” 

Jane and Catalina laugh. “After dinner, Anne can choose a game-board or video-to play and then Catalina and I are going to bed. You guys can stay up until eleven, but after that it’s bed, you have school.” Jane says. Anne and Kat nod. 

“Anne, what game? We have Monopoly, Life…” Kat starts listing their games. 

“Let’s do...Mario Kart!” Anne shouts. The four clean up dinner and play three Grand Prixs, which lasts them until ten. After that, Jane and Catalina go upstairs to bed, leaving Kat and Anne in the living room. 

“I know they said we could stay here until eleven, but I’ve had a long day.” Anne says. 

“I get it. I remember my first day. Go on up, I’ll be there soon.” Kat says, yawning. 

Anne goes up the stairs and to her room. She changes into her pajamas and sits on her bed. The day had been wild. She was adopted, met her sister, moved into a huge house, and now was going to school soon.

This house, this  _ home _ , was amazing. People have always called “home” a place where you feel loved and trusted. Her mother’s house had been anything but a home, with her mom being abusive and Mary ignoring her for the past two years, she felt alone. Now, here, in this new place, she felt welcomed. Loved. Safe. 

She’ll give this home a shot. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am well aware that the adoption process is a lot longer then a day, but for the sake of this timeline, I'm making it shorter.


	3. Welcome Buddies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Enter Cathy Parr, and Anne's lesbian awakening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll probably post chapters between 10:00-11:45 EST on weekdays. On weekends, I'll try to post, but I can't make promises.

“Anne. Anne, it’s time for school.” Anne woke up to Jane gently shaking her. “You have to go to school early for a tour.” 

“Ugh. What time is it?’ Anne says. She glances over to her new alarm clock. “Six-forty-five?!” 

“Anne c’mon. Get up.” Jane says. When Anne doesn’t move, she adds, “I made pancakes…” 

“I’m on it.” Anne says. She springs out of bed as Jane leaves the room. Quickly, Anne puts on a striped green t-shirt and a pair of ripped black jeans, along with her dark-green Chuck Taylors and choker. She brushes her teeth and dabs a bit of concealer and winged eyeliner before running downstairs. 

“That was fast.” Jane says as she serves Anne three pancakes. 

“What time do we have to be there?” Anne asks. 

“Seven-thirty. They let kids in at eight-fifteen.”

“Nice.” Anne says as she eats her pancakes. 

“A student your age will be taking you on the tour. She’s one of the district’s top students. Her name is Catherine Parr.” 

“Sounds snobby.”

“Anne, don’t be rude, you don’t know her.” Jane scolds. “Once you’re done, go ahead and get your binder and backpack ready. Your schedule is in your binder.”

Anne finishes her pancakes and gets her bag ready. Then, she and Jane head out to the car. 

“Are you nervous?” Jane asks as they drive down the road. 

“A bit. Does Kat get… bullied?” Anne asks. 

“Oh, God no. At least, she hasn’t told me anything. But I bet not. The school has a no bully-policy.” 

“Every school has one, yet it’s rarely enforced.”

“The policy says that bullies face an automatic suspension if reported, and if they’re reported to harass someone, then they face expulsion.”

“Never mind, then.”

As they pull up to the school, Anne sees a girl standing by the door. She’s wearing a collared blue shirt that’s tucked into her jeans. Her hair is swept to the left and shaved just a bit on the right. 

“Ok, Anne, I’ve got to go. Have a good day.” Jane says. 

“Bye!” Anne replies. 

Anne walks up to the front of the school, her backpack over her shoulder. 

“Hey, I’m Catherine Parr. You can call me Cathy.” the girl says. 

“Anne Boleyn.”

“I’m your welcome buddy.” Cathy says. 

“Welcome buddy? Is that what they call you? Couldn’t they just say tour guide or something? Welcome buddy sounds kind of lame…” Anne babbles. 

Cathy smiles. “I’ve never thought of it like that. Come on, I’ll give you your tour.” She takes Anne’s hand and leads her inside. Anne feels a tugging in her chest.  _ What is that?,  _ she asks herself. 

“These are the administration offices. You’ll find the front desk, the principal, the vice principal, and the school coordinator here.” Cathy says. “The cafeteria and library are that way, and the elective classes are this way.” she points to a hall on the left. 

“What electives are there?” Anne asks. 

“Visual Art-that’s like painting-, Studio Art-that’s sculpting-, Performing Arts, Band, Design and Engineering, Design for Change-that’s activism.” Cathy answers. “Each student gets two electives: one for the first half of the year and one for the second half.”

“What’d you pick?” Anne asks. 

“Design for Change for first, and Visual Arts for second.” 

“Maybe I’ll choose those.” Anne says. Was Cathy blushing? No, it was probably just her makeup. 

“So, can I see your schedule?” Cathy asks. Anne hands it to her, and their fingers touch for the fraction of a second. An electric current goes down Anne’s spine. 

“You have Mr. Tudor for homeroom! Me too! Actually, we have a lot of classes together… If you end up doing Design for Change and Visual Arts, we’ll have every class except fifth period together! That’s six classes!” Cathy says excitedly. 

Anne looks over Cathy’s shoulder. “Fifth period is… Science. Shit.” 

“What?” Cathy asks

“I suck at science. Plus, it’s boring.” 

“Science isn’t for everyone. But hey, my fifth period class is next to yours, so I’ll walk you to all of them!” Cathy responds. “Now this tour doesn’t really have a point…” 

“Any secret spots you know of?” Anne asks. 

“Huh?” 

“Like quiet spaces where we can chat, you can tell me about this school’s reputation or something.” 

“Oh. Um, there’s the library. That’s not exactly secret, but…” 

“Works for me. Where is it again?” Anne says. 

“This way, follow me!” 

The girls run to the library, Anne’s heart doing flip-flops the whole way. 

“Ok, so our school doesn’t really have  _ cliques,  _ per se, but we do have groups.” Cathy says. She gives Anne a lowdown of the students, who’s nice, who isn’t, who to avoid, and where people sit at lunch.

“My...cousin...goes here already.” Anne says. “You might know her, Katherine? Goes by Kat, has long brown hair dyed pink?” 

“Oh yeah! We usually sit close to each other at lunch.” 

“Neat. Um, maybe we could sit together?” Anne suggests.

“That’d be a great upgrade from me sitting alone with my nose in a book.” Cathy answers. 

Just then, the bell rang. Cathy checked her watch. “It’s eight-fifteen, time for homeroom.” she says. Anne follows her up the stairs to the second floor, then to a room labeled:  **Tudor: Senior Calculus.** Anne walks in to see a bulging man sitting at a desk. His beard meets his collarbone, and his waist is barely a waist. 

“Are you the new student?” he grumbles at Anne. 

“Uhm, yes.” Anne replies meekly. 

“‘Kay. You can sit next to Cathy.” he says, pointing to a desk next to Cathy. 

“I gotta do some homework, so just socialize or something.” Cathy whispers. 

Anne thinks about how a few moments ago, the two were sitting in the library. She remembers how her heart kept beating out of her chest and how she couldn’t stop smiling around her. 

_ Could I have a crush?  _ Anne thinks to herself. She’s never really paid attention to boys before, they always annoyed her. She’d never felt this way around a girl before. She guessed it was possible, but probably not. 

But then she remembers how she felt when her and Cathy’s fingertips met when she took out her schedule. How it felt like the two had exchanged energy, electricity. 

Anne soon came to the conclusion that she very much had a huge crush on Cathy Parr. 


	4. "That was gay panic if I ever saw it"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anna makes her entrance, and Anne asks Katanna for crush advice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am SO SORRY I posted this two hours late. My school has half-days on Wednesday, and I had to make up a test and completely forgot. My bad!

Fourth period was lunch. As the bell rang, Cathy took Anne’s hand and led her to the lunchroom. 

“Today’s lunch is pizza, I think. We also have a salad bar and a sandwich bar.” Cathy says. 

“Pizza? Sign me up.” Anne says. She walks up to the lunch counter and pays for her food. Anne looks around for Cathy and Kat’s table. 

“Anne? Anne! Come over here!” she hears a high pitched voice and looks behind her. Kat is standing there, holding the hand of a girl in red. Next to them is Cathy. Anne walks over to them. 

“Nobody wants to sit in the lunchroom. C’mon, we’ll show you where  _ we  _ sit.” the girl in red says. The three girls lead Anne outside to a green, where lots of other students are picnicking. 

“They let you guys sit out here?” Anne marvels. 

“Yeah! Obviously, not on rainy days or days after it rains, but it rarely rains here.”

“Nice.”

The four girls choose a spot in the middle of the green and start to eat. 

“Oh! Anne, I’m sorry. I forgot to introduce you to Anna!” Kat gasps. “Anne, this is Anna, Anna, this is Anne.” 

“Uhm, hey.” Anne says. 

“Hi! I’m Kitty’s girlfriend.” the girl in red says. Kat puts her head on Anna’s shoulder, and Anna kisses the top of her head.

“Oh! So like, you’re gay?” Anne says. She curses under her breath. “Of course you’re gay. Forget I said that.”

Kat giggles. “It’s fine.” 

Anne sneaks a glance at Cathy. The blue girl is sitting in the exact spot where the sun hits just the right angle, lighting Cathy with a golden glow and making her look angelic, if you could look like an angel while eating mediocre lunch food.

“Wow…” Anne whispers. 

“What?” Cathy asks, aware of Anne staring at her. 

“Oh! Uhm, nothing. I didn't say anything. You did.” Anne stutters. Her face goes red. 

“Okay…” Cathy says. “Shit! I forgot! I’m supposed to tutor this one kid in five minutes!” She gets up and runs into the building, leaving Anne to sit with Anna and Kat. 

“So, Anne. You and Cathy, huh?” Kat asks, wiggling her eyebrows. 

“Uhm, what? No! No...goddamn it yes.” Anne says. “I am so gay for her.” 

“Clearly you haven’t met Anna.” Kat says, making the red girl blush. “Anyway, you should ask her out!”

“No way! She’s totally straight!” Anne says. 

“More like totally in the closet! You should do it! Ask her out for coffee or something.” Anna says. 

“Yeah!”

“No!”

“Oh, come on, why not?” Kat says. 

“Well… maybe because I don’t know how?” Anne admits. 

“Oh my God, are you asking us for crush advice?” Kat asks excitedly. 

“...Maybe?” 

“YES!” Kat pumps her fist. “Ok, so, I’m sure she’s bi.” she says. 

“Doubt that.” 

“Oh please, when you were making goo-goo eyes at her she was totally staring back.” Anna says. 

“Can I just have some advice? I’d ask Jane or Catalina, but…” Anne trails off. The truth is, she doesn’t really trust them yet. She’s only known them for the past three days. Her biological mother was barely a mother figure. Kat, however, knows what she’s going through. She understands. 

“But you don’t trust them just yet, right?” Kat says, voicing Anne’s thoughts. 

“Yeah.”

“Ok. My advice? Come out to her first, see what she says. Maybe do it over coffee or something. If she comes out to you, get together in a space where you feel at home, and confess.” Anna says. 

“...That’s actually not half-bad.” Anne says. 

“Kat was a gay disaster when we met. She was so-” Anna starts

“OK THAT’S ENOUGH.” Kat yells, covering Anna’s mouth with her hand. 

“But Anne, you should also tell Jane and Catalina. They’d be nothing but supportive.” Kat drops her voice. 

“Nope. Not happening. No-”

“Don’t tell them everything, just say something like ‘Hey, I’m gay.’” Anna suggests. “And if they don’t like it, I’ll punch their-”

“They’re literally lesbians, why the hell would they  _ not  _ support it?” Kat asks. 

“I was trying to make Anne feel better about it!”

“She shouldn’t  _ have  _ to feel bad!”

The two girlfriends began bickering, but Anne tuned them out. Asking Cathy out for coffee didn’t seem like a bad idea, and after that, she could tell Jane and Catalina.

“Fine, I’ll do it.” Anne says. “But Kat, you have to be with me when I tell Jane and Catalina.”

“Deal. I’ll bring Anna over for dinner or something.” 

Anne looks towards the door just in time to see Cathy stroll out. “Quick, she’s coming!” Anne whisper-shouts. 

“What’d I miss? The tutoring was a false alarm.” Cathy says as she plops down next to Anne. 

“Nothing.” Anne says. “Heysodoyouwanttogooutforcoffeeorsomething?” 

“What?” Cathy asks, confused.

“Coffee. You. Me. Later this week.” Anne says like a robot. 

“Oh, sure, yeah.” Cathy pauses. “Is this a date?” she says with a smirk. 

“What?! No! I mean, it can be, but it doesn’t have to be, but it also could be- do you want to go out or not?” Anne turns a deep red. 

“Sure. Wednesday afternoon?” Cathy asks. 

“Um, yeah.” Anne says as Cathy gets up again. Once she’s gone, Anne whispers, “That’s only two days away!” 

“That is gay panic if I ever saw it.” Anna says rather loudly, earning a swat on the arm from Kat. 

“She definitely likes you.” The pink-haired girl states. 

“This is going to turn out great or it’s gonna be a shitshow.” Anne says, putting her head in her hands. 

“It can’t be that bad.” Kat says reassuringly. 

“It can be.” Anna responds, getting yet another swat from Kat. 

  
  


“Ok, here’s what I’m going to do: Come out to Jane and Catalina at dinner tomorrow night and then to Cathy the next afternoon at coffee. Does that sound like a good plan?” Anne says meekly. 

“Yes.” both girls say in unison. 

Now, the only thing Anne has to do is get through the next two days without dying from a case of being a lesbian disaster. 


	5. Coming Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anne comes out to Jane and Catalina, and then Cathy. 
> 
> TW: anxiety attack

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wooooo early update guys
> 
> Maybe I'll do a double update...who knows? :)

Before Anne knew it, it was Tuesday afternoon. It was just before dinner and Anne was freaking out in her room and Kat and Anna were trying to calm her down. 

“What do I say? How do I say it? What will  _ they  _ say?” Anne asks rapid-fire questions while sitting on her bed. 

“Anne, breathe in for four, hold for five, and exhale for seven.” Kat says. Anne complies, and feels a bit better. 

“But still-” Anne starts

“No buts. Pretend I’m Jane.” Kat says. “Anna will be Catalina.”

“Veto.” Anna says. 

“Oh come on! It’ll help her feel better!”

“I’m not role-playing as your mom!”

“It’s not role-playing! It’s rehearsing!”

“Same difference!” 

“Would you two stop bickering for one second!” Anne shouts, startling the two. 

“Yeah, sorry.” Anna says. 

“Alright, just say what you wanna say and we’ll tell you if you sound OK.” Kat says. 

“Um-” Anne starts

“DINNER!” Jane shouts from below.

“Shit!” Anne swears.

“Swear jar.” Kat mutters. 

“Just go down there, act chill, and tell them.” Anna says quickly. 

“Act chill?! How do I act chill!?” Anne whisper-shouts.

“You girls coming?” Catalina says from below. 

“Just a sec!’ Kat yells, pushing Anne towards the stairs. Anne takes a shaky breath and walks down them slowly, going to her place at the table. 

“You ok, Anne?” Jane asks worriedly. 

“What? Oh, I’m fine.” Anne lies. 

“Well, Ok…” 

Jane serves everyone heaping plates of spaghetti. 

“Thanks Mrs. Seymour, this looks great.” Anna says, taking a huge bite of her food. 

“You ready?” Kat whispers to Anne. The girl in green nods. 

“Jane and Catalina?” Anne says rather loudly. “I have something to say.” her voice shakes. 

“What is it, Anne?” Catalina asks. 

“I’m gay. I’m a lesbian.” Anne looks down at her feet.

Silence goes around the table. Anne sucks in all her breath. 

“I thought you were American.” Anna says, and Kat snorts. 

“Gosh, thanks for telling us.” Jane says, giving Anne a warm hug. 

“Anne, we support you no matter what, okay? We’ll love you when no one else does.” Catalina says, joining the hug. Soon, all five women are in a massive group hug, with Anne in the center. 

“How did you think we’d react?” Jane asks.

“I don’t know, I guess I’ve never said the words  _ I’m  _ and  _ gay  _ in the same sentence together. It was scary.” Anne rambles. 

“Don’t be scared about us.” Jane says warmly. 

“Is there a girl out there?” Catalina says, smirking. 

“Um I-” Anne stutters. 

“Don’t tell us if you don’t want to.” Jane says, shooting a look at her wife. 

“No, it’s fine. There is actually. We’re going out for coffee tomorrow afternoon.”

“Tell us all about it.” Jane smiles. 

“Mom, can we have some ice cream?” Kat asks. “For celebratory reasons.” Kat smiles at Anne. 

Jane nods and the five women eat ice cream and watch movies for the rest of the night. 

\---

It was Wednesday afternoon and Anne was yet again gay panicing. She was standing in her seventh period, thoughts racing in her head.

_ What if I say the wrong thing? What if she turns out to be straight? What if she’s homophobic? What if- _

“Are you ready to go?” Anne spins around to see Cathy standing by her desk. Despite her scared state, Anne smiles at the girl. It’s a real smile, not a fake one. 

“I’ll show you to the best coffee shop in town.” Cathy says, taking Anne by the hand. The green girl flinches at the contact, but it’s barely noticeable. The fact that Cathy is holding Anne’s hand sends a warm feeling throughout Anne’s entire body. 

The duo walks in silence while going to the coffeeshop. Once they get there, however, Cathy starts talking. 

“So, why’d you ask me out?” she says, smirking.

“I didn’t.” Anne sputters. Cathy’s comment took her by surprise. “I mean, I did, but this is just friends going out.” 

“What if I want to be more than friends?” Cathy mumbles. 

“What?” Anne’s stomach does flip-flops. 

“Nothing. I didn’t say anything.” the girl in blue says quickly. “Ready to order?” 

The two girls order their coffee, Cathy getting a latte with three shots of espresso and Anne getting a caramel frappuccino. 

“Coffee addict, huh?” Anne smirks at Cathy. The blue girl blushed the slightest bit but managed to hide it from Anne’s eyes. 

“Sugar addict?” Cathy counters. Anne’s blush is much more visible than she’s willing to admit. The two girls head over to a table.

“Cathy?” Anne asks. She’s looking at the table and won’t meet Cathy’s eye. 

“Yes?”

“I asked you to come here because I need to tell you something.”

“What is it?”

“This shouldn’t be a big deal, but in this world, it is. I want to tell you… that I’m gay.”

Cathy went silent. Anne was ready to sign her will. 

“Oh.” Cathy breathed. “Oh.”

“Oh, what?”

“Well, uh, thanks for telling me?” Cathy said quietly. Then she added, “I am too”

“What?” Anne asked. Cathy’s response was barely audible. 

“I SAID I AM TOO.” Cathy accidentally shouted. She turned bright red. 

_ Holy shit, Anna and Kat were right _ , Anne thought. 

“Huh.” Anne said.

“Is that okay? That I told you?” Cathy asked. A look of worry is in her eyes. 

“Yeah, why wouldn’t it be?” Anne responded, concerned. 

“Well… I don’t think my parents would be that supportive if I told them.”

Anne’s heart sank. Cathy would never feel at home with her parents. Anne could understand that. Her sadness was soon replaced by anger. How dare Cathy’s parents be unsupportive of their daughter. If Anne ever met them she’d walk right up to them and-

“Anne? Are you still there?” Cathy asks. 

“What? Oh, yeah.”

“I have to go.” Cathy said “Gotta do some babysitting for my sister.”

“Oh. Okay.”

Cathy takes her coffee and walks out the door, leaving Anne to sit alone at their table. The green girl pulls out her phone and goes to Kat’s contact. 

**Anne:** i told her

**Kat:** yay! how’d she respond?

**Anne:** she’s gay

**Kat:** called it

**Anne:** but apparently her parents aren't supportive 

**Kat:** no! 

**Kat:** tell her that she’s part of our family now

**Anne:** will do! :)

**Kat:** :)

Anne rushes home after she finishes her drink. She bursts through the door to see Anna and Kat cuddling on the living room sofa. 

“Guys! I-”

“Yeah, we know she’s gay.” Anna says. 

“No, it’s something else. While Cathy and I were waiting to order coffee, she asked me why I asked her out. I said it was just a friendly get together, and then I swore I heard her mutter ‘What if I want to be more than friends?’”

“OH MY GOD.” Anna shouts, springing up from the sofa. 

“You  _ need  _ to bring her over.” Kat says.

“How would I do that?” Anne responds. 

“Anna’s spending the night next weekend, maybe ask her if she wants to? Jane and Catalina are visiting Jane’s sister or something.” Kat says. 

“Would Jane and Catalina be ok with it?” Anne asks. 

“Yes!” Jane shouts from upstairs. 

“Mom! Stop eavesdropping!” Kat yells. 

“Sorry!” 

“Anyway,” Kat says, “ask her if she wants to sleep over next Saturday.”

Anne whips out her phone and texts Cathy.

**Anne:** hey, do you wanna spend the night next saturday? sleepovers are pretty underrated...who says we’re too old for them?

**Cathy:** sure! :)


	6. "my ship has floated"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the sleepover!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The reason why I'm doing a double update today is because I don't know if I'll update tomorrow or Saturday. I have a very busy weekend coming up. I also got some...awful news about an old classmate and I need some time. If i don't update tomorrow, I will definitely update Sunday or Monday.

The following Saturday after Anne came out was the sleepover. Anne and Kat were hurriedly prepping the house. Air mattresses had been set up, food had been cooked, games had been laid out. 

“Are we all good?” Anne asks. “I mean, is that everything?” 

“Yeah, I think so” Kat is interrupted by the doorbell. 

The girls rush over to the door and open it to see Cathy and Anna standing next to each other, holding overnight bags. 

“We got here at the same time.” Anna says, offering an explanation. 

“Well, come in!” Kat says, opening the door wider. The four girls stand in the living room, unsure of what to do. 

“Um, we could play MarioKart?” Anne suggests. She’s panicking, and hopes that Cathy can’t tell. 

The girls end up going with what Anne suggested and play four Grand Prixs. By then, it’s time for dinner. Kat whipped up some boxed mac and cheese in record time, and the girls decide to watch a movie while they eat dinner. 

“Disney marathon?” Kat suggests. 

“No, we should do a Pixar marathon!” Anna yells.

“Disney owns Pixar, ya moron! We can watch both!” Kat says, playfully swatting her girlfriend’s arm. Anna smiles and kisses the top of Kat’s head, making the pink girl blush. 

Anne turns on  _ Wall-E  _ and the group sits on the couch. By the middle of the movie, Anna and Kat are cuddling on a sea of blankets on the ground, leaving Cathy and Anne alone on the couch. Cathy lays her head on Anne’s shoulder, making the green girl flinch. 

“Is this ok?” Cathy whispers, clearly worried. 

“Yeah, yeah it’s fine.” Anne whispers back. Her shoulders start to shake. 

“Anne, are you okay?” Cathy whispers. 

“I-no. I can’t- I have to go.” Anne stutters. She gets up from the couch and runs upstairs, leaving a confused Cathy behind. 

Anne runs to her room crying. She just  _ had  _ to screw up there. She could've calmed down or tried to collect herself. But no, she just  _ had _ to run away like a baby. 

And that’s all Anne ever does. Runs away. She tried to leave, to leave it all behind, but she can’t. Life keeps pulling her back, as if she’s going to suddenly have a huge realization that there are things  _ worth living for.  _

Cathy was worth living for. Anne lived for Cathy. Anne can’t live without her. 

But Cathy can. 

She doesn’t deserve Anne. She deserves the world, and all Anne can give her is next to nothing. 

“Anne?” a muffled voice says. 

“What?” Anne replies, her voice cracks with a sob. 

“It’s Cathy.” The blue girl opens the door, a look of worry on her face. “What happened down there?” 

Anne doesn’t respond. She can’t even look at her. Instead, she sits on her bed and puts her head in her hands. 

“Anne…” Cathy says, running over to the sobbing girl. She reaches out to hug Anne. 

“Don’t touch me.” Anne says, her voice stone cold. Cathy flinches, her eyes wide. 

“I’m sorry.” Anne says. “I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that.”

“Anne, I don’t care about that. I care about you, right now. What happened?”

Anne takes a slow, deep breath. “I’m not used to… affection. Until maybe two weeks ago, I’d never felt it since I was seven years old.” she takes a shaky breath. “When you laid your head on my shoulder, I started shaking because nobody’s ever done that to me. Nobody’s ever looked at me straight in the eye and said,  _ I love you. _ Not since my dad passed.” A stray tear rolls down her cheek. 

What Cathy says next shocks Anne to her core. 

“Nobody’s ever said that to me either.” Anne looks up at her, eyes wide. Cathy continues. “In my house, it’s always ‘you can do better’ or ‘try harder’. I can’t remember the last time someone actually told me that I did something right. I’ve never heard those words either.”

Now it’s Cathy’s turn to cry. 

“Well, I love you.” Anne says. She didn’t realize how loud she said it until Cathy looked up at her. 

“What?” 

Anne wants to run. She’s ready to. She’s ready to run as fast as she can, away from everybody who’s ever been in her life. 

But her legs don’t move. 

“I said, “ Anne takes in a shaky breath. “I love you.” 

And before she knows what she’s doing, Anne kisses her. 

\---

Anne wasn’t exactly sure of what she was doing. She kissed Cathy out of impulse, not out of logic, as the other would have done. To her surprise though, the other kissed back. Cathy’s hand held Anne’s jaw, and her other became tangled in Anne’s hair. Anne’s arms were wrapped around the taller girl’s neck. As the world disappears around them, the kiss intensifies. 

“Oh my God, my ship has floated.”

Anne pulls away from Cathy to see her bedroom door open, Anna and Kat standing there. Judging by Kat’s hysterical laughter, Anna had been the one to comment. 

“What the hell are you doing?!” Anne yelled, leaving Cathy’s grasp and slamming the door. The younger girls start to laugh even harder, if that was possible. Anne and Cathy waited in silence until it was clear that they were gone. 

“So, um, that happened.” Anne said. 

“Yeah,” Cathy smiled sheepishly. “Wanna talk about it?”

The two girls move over to sit on the edge of Anne’s bed. 

“Was that ok? The kiss?” Anne asks. 

“Of course it was. I kissed back, didn’t I?” Cathy responds. 

“So does that make us, what, girlfriends?” Anne’s voice is barely audible. 

“If you want it to be.” Cathy says. She nuzzles Anne’s neck and places a quick kiss on her collarbone, making Anne shudder.

“Was that ok?” Cathy asks, looking up at the green girl. 

“More than ok.” Anne says shakily. 

“Are you sure?” 

“Yes. I may not be used to it, but I’m sure.”

Cathy smiles before pecking kisses on Anne’s lips, cheeks, neck, and collarbone. Anne sighs against Cathy’s lips. 

“You know what’d be great right now?” Anne says. 

“What?” Cathy responds. 

“Ice cream.”

Cathy lets out a soft giggle. “I thought you were going to say something along the lines of ‘making out in your room’” she whispers. 

Anne smiles in the dark room. “That would be awesome too, but this deserves ice cream.”

“As you wish, Annie.” Cathy says, smirking. 

“Annie?” Anne asks jokingly. 

“Every couple has cute pet names or nicknames.”

Anne sighs, then takes Cathy by the hand and leads her down to the kitchen. The two girls find ice cream, whipped cream, and chocolate sauce. 

“Do you have any rainbow sprinkles?” Cathy asks, opening a cabinet. 

“Maybe, why?” Anne says. 

“We’re gay. And they’re rainbow. So we automatically deserve them.”

Anne guffaws. “Yeah, I found some.” 

The two girls end up making a mountain of ice cream to split between them. As they eat, they end up talking about how long they’ve liked each other. 

“That first day, when you gave me a tour, my stomach was doing flip-flops the entire time.” Anne says. 

“When you started talking about how corny the term ‘welcome buddies’ was, I wanted to kiss you right then and there.” Cathy says.

“Why?”

“You were acting so cute! You were just babbling. I can’t remember the last time I did that, just say whatever was in my mind. My parents always told me to think carefully about what I say before I say it, so I accidentally don’t disrespect someone. And there you were, just saying whatever popped in your head…”

“You thought that was cute?” Anne asks, surprised. 

“Of course!” 

Anne giggles and looks at the kitchen clock. “Damn, it’s one a.m. We should probably go to sleep.” 

“Only eleven pm?” Cathy asks. 

Anne turns to look at her. “Cathy, what time do you normally go to bed at?”

“. . .”

“Jesus Christ. We’re going to bed. Now.” Anne insists.

“Oh, fine.” Cathy follows Anne upstairs to her room. When they walk in, the air mattress that Cathy was supposed to sleep on has disappeared, undoubtedly Kat and Anna’s doing. 

But that leaves Anne’s twin bed left for them to sleep on…

Oh,  _ shit _ . 


	7. Dinner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cathy stays over for dinner

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who just dropped their computer and is now using an iPad to publish stuff?
> 
> (This may make it harder for me to publish, so keep that in mind)

The two girls woke up the next morning side by side. Anne’s head was tucked into the crook of Cathy’s neck. 

“Morning, Annie.” Cathy said softly, looking at Anne’s eyes slowly opening. 

“Mornin’ Cathy.” 

The duo got up and stretched, then walked downstairs to see Kat and Anna sitting at the breakfast table. 

“So how’d you guys sleep?” Anna says with a completely straight face. Kat stifles a laugh. 

“Fine, thanks for asking.” Anne responds without looking at them.

“Oh my God, it worked. Parrlyn is together.” Kat says through giggles. 

“What’s Parrlyn?” Cathy asks.

“It’s your ship name.” Anna replies. “We came up with this plan to get you together. You were going to go out for coffee and come out, and then there’d be the sleepover, and then you guys would kiss and be forced to share a bed. I can’t believe it worked!” Anna explains. Kat collapses in laughter. 

“Were you in on this?” Cathy turns to ask Anne. The green girl shakes her head.   
“Wait, what’s your ship name?” Anne asks. 

“Katanna.” Anna replies. 

“Why the first names? Why not something like Cleveward?” Cathy ponders. 

“Because Katanna is superior in adorableness, so therefore we use first names.” Kat justifies. 

“. . .”

“I’m not arguing with that.” Anne says. “What’s for breakfast?” 

“Pancakes. Jane made them a few days ago.”

Anne and Cathy helped themselves to the pancakes. Just as they sat down, Jane and Catalina burst through the door.

“You two are still here?” Catalina asks, motioning to Cathy and Anna. 

“Yeah, they are. Why?” Anne says. 

“It’s one p.m.”

Anne and Cathy look at each other. “That means…” Cathy starts. 

“...we slept for fourteen hours!” Anne finishes. 

“Oh my God, they’re finishing each other’s sentences.” Kat says, making Anna laugh. 

“Since you guys stayed so late, you might as well stay for dinner.” Jane says. “You guys can make dinner, though.” 

“By making dinner, do you mean order takeout?” Kat asks. 

“No, I mean actually cooking something.” Jane responds. 

“You know that's going to end badly, right?” Catalina looks at her wife. 

“If it ends that terribly, we’ll order pizza.” Jane says. 

“So, we could screw up on purpose-”

“I take it back.” Jane says, but she’s smiling. 

By this time, Anne and Cathy have finished their breakfast (or maybe lunch?) and start to head upstairs. 

“Hold up.” Catalina says. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“. . .my room?” Anne says it like a question. 

“Nuh-uh. You stay down here. The living room is the most privacy you’ll get.” Catalina says.

“So you don’t trust me?”

“Do you trust us?”

“More than I did three weeks ago!”

“Living room. That’s it.”

“What about going outside?” Cathy asks. “Like, in the backyard?”

Catalina pauses to think. “You can go outside.”

Cathy and Anne race to the back door. When they get out there, they make a beeline to the wooden swing bench. The two of them can barely fit, but they like the closeness. Cathy ends up laying her head on Anne’s shoulder as they gently swing. The green girl starts stroking Cathy’s hair. 

“Annie?” Cathy says softly. 

“What, m'a amour?" Anne replies just as quietly. 

“I think this is the best I’ve felt in years.”

“Me too, m’a amour.” 

And just like that, both girls fall asleep. 

\---

“CATHY! ANNE! IT’S TIME TO MAKE DINNER!” Kat screams from the open kitchen window, startling both girls awake. 

“Did we fall asleep thirty minutes after waking up?” Cathy turns to look at her girlfriend.

“Y’know, I think we did.” Anne replies. The two girls run for the kitchen.   
“What’re we cooking?” Anne asks as she walks through the back door. 

“Boxed mac and cheese.” Kat responds, stirring something in a pot on the stove. 

“Doesn’t Jane hate that stuff?” Anne says. 

“Well, yeah, but it’s also the only thing we can all make without burning the house down.”

“True.” Anne says, “What’s Anna doing?”

“Making backup sandwiches in case I ruin the mac and cheese.”

Anne looks over to see Anna spreading peanut butter on slices of bread. 

“What can we do?” Cathy asks. 

“You can...make dessert.” Kat suggests. “I think we have a chocolate cookie recipe.” She points to Jane’s cookbook shelf. The two girls start leafing through the pages until they find the recipe. Anne and Cathy decide that Cathy would be the one who was actually baking, and Anne would call out what to do and occasionally stir the batter. 

“Okay, so it says we need a large mixing bowl, with three and a half cups of flour.” Anne says. Cathy gets out the flour and almost drops it, she just barely managed to catch it. 

“Next is two cups of-”

This time Cathy did drop the flour. The bag hits the floor with a thunk, and flour bursts out, settling on the kitchen like freshly fallen snow. 

“Well, shit.” Cathy says. “Now what?” 

“Now…” Anne starts, picking up a fistfull of flour, “we have a flour fight!!” The two girls start tossing flour at each other, Kat and Anna joining in later. The girls are so wrapped up in it that they don’t hear footsteps walking down the stairs.

“I left you guys alone for one second.” The girls turn around to see Jane standing in the entryway, arms crossed. However, a smile slowly spread across her face. 

“Got enough ammo for one more?” the blonde woman asks. Before the girls can answer, she tosses a ball of flour at Kat, but her aim is off so it lands in the mac and cheese pot, which somehow didn’t have any flour until now. 

“Welp, that’s the end of the mac and cheese.” Kat says. 

Just then, Catalina walked into the kitchen. She looked around before muttering “I knew we should have ordered pizza.” and walked out of the room, leaving the rest of the women to look around at each other. 

“Okay, everyone needs to shower. I’ll clean this up.” Jane says, shooing the girls out of the kitchen. They walk upstairs, Anna and Kat going to Kat’s room and Cathy and Anne going to Anne’s room. The latter shuts the door, then awkwardly leans against the wall.

“So, um, do you want to shower first?” Cathy says. 

“Yeah, I guess I will.” Anne says before grabbing aspire change of clothes and stepping into the bathroom. 

After her shower, she walks out wearing a nightshirt and sweatpants and motions Cathy to go inside the bathroom. 

“I took a cold shower so you could use the hot water.” Anne says. 

“Aww, you didn’t have to do that.” Cathy responds. 

“Yes, I did.” Anne walks downstairs and to the living room. Jane had just cleaned up the kitchen, along with Kat and Anna’s help. 

“Catalina ordered pizza, so you girls hang tight until it comes.” Jane says. 

“Okay.” Anne says. She walks on over to the sofa. Just then, Cathy walks downstairs, wearing Anne’s sweatshirt. 

“Oh my God.” Anne whispers. 

“What?” Cathy asks. 

“It’s just that…that’s my sweatshirt.”

“Yes, and?” 

“You look… really freaking adorable in it.” Anne smiles, and Cathy blushes. 

“Oh my God, this is making me sick.” Anna says, pretending to gag. Kat swats her. 

Cathy takes Anne’s hand and pulls her into the library, making sure nobody can see them. Then, Cathy pulls Anne onto a sofa and kisses her so hard Anne practically unravels. 

“God, you take my breath away.” Anne whispers. Cathy smiles.  
“So I’m the one who gets you tongue-tied?” Cathy asks. 

Anne nods. Cathy kisses Anne again, softly and slowly, and soon enough, the two are making out, with Anne almost sitting in Cathy’s lap. 

“Dinner!” Jane shouts from the living room. 

Anne climbs off of Cathy’s lap. “We should probably go.” she says. 

“Yeah.” Cathy smiles at Anne’s smudged lipstick and rubs some of it off. Then she takes Anne’s hand and the two walk out of the library together. 

Just as the girls were about to sit down and eat, there’s a knock echoes from the entryway. 

“I’ll get it.” Anne says, rushing to the door.

The last person who she expected to see was standing in the doorway. 

It was her sister, Mary.


	8. This is my home now

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mary and Anne reunite.

“What are you doing here?” Anne growls. 

“I came by to check on you.” Mary states matter-of-factly. 

“I don’t hear from you in five weeks and suddenly you show up out of nowhere and now you want to  _ check on me _ ?!” Anne says. 

“Anne, who is this?” Jane asks worriedly. 

“This is my sister,” Anne spits out the last word. “...Mary.” 

“Hi.” Mary says, sticking her hand out to shake. Jane avoids Mary’s hand. Instead, she asks her, “Is there anything specific that you needed to say?” 

Mary pauses. “Well, yes.” 

Anne sucks in her breath. 

“Anne, I want you to come home.” Mary says. 

In one second, the room explodes. Jane steps in front of Anne and stomps outside to talk with Mary, Catalina not far behind. Cathy pulls Anne close to her in a hug, and Anna locks the door as Kat pushes Cathy and Anne into the kitchen. 

“Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God.” Anne whispers, rocking against Cathy. The blue girl leads Anne over to a chair. 

“Annie, breathe with me.” Cathy says in an attempt to calm her girlfriend down. “In for four, hold for six, out for eight.” Anne follows what Cathy’s saying. Cathy grabs Anne’s hand with a gentle firmness. 

The girls in the kitchen hear yelling coming from outside. Kat opens the kitchen blinds and peeks out the window. Jane is gesturing widely and yelling. She’s screaming about how she’s Anne’s legal guardian and how Mary can’t take her away. Mary’s arguing that she’s Anne’s sister, so she’s allowed to see her. 

Mary sees Anne looking through the window. She gestures for Anne to come outside. 

“I can’t go home. I can’t go out there.” Anne says. Cathy hugs her. “I’ll go with you.” 

The two girls go outside. 

“Anne, you need to see Mom. She misses you. I miss you. Just come home for the weekend or something.” Mary says.

“Mary, with all due respect, we cannot let her do that. Anne’s mother was abusive, it’s not safe for her to come home.” Catalina says. 

“Of course it’s safe.” Mary scoffs. She offers her hand out in Anne’s direction. 

Anne moves closer to Cathy. Mary frowns. “Anne, let’s  _ go _ .” 

“NO!” Anne shouts as loud as she can. Mary startles and backs away. “This is my home.” Anne continues. “Catalina and Jane are my moms, and Kat is my sister. I’m not leaving.”

“Anne, Mom wants to see you.” Mary says. She’s getting impatient. 

“I don’t want to see her.” Anne says. “She isn’t my mom. Not anymore.”

Mary’s frown deepens. With one quick motion, she grabs Anne’s wrist and starts hauling her to her car. Anne starts to scream at the top of her lungs. 

“Mary! Mary this is kidnapping! Let me go!” Anne shouts. 

Jane swoops in from nowhere and kicks Mary’s shin, making her drop Anne’s wrist. Anne runs into Cathy’s arms. 

“You are  _ never  _ to come here again.” Jane says to Mary. “Do you hear me?”

Mary nods and runs to her car. 

Catalina waves Anne and Cathy into the house, where Kat and Anna are waiting. Anne is crying now, tears pouring down her cheeks. She hasn’t cried this much since…

Her suicide attempt. 

Anne starts to sob now, sinking to the floor. Cathy tries to comfort her, but when that doesn’t work, she leads Anne up to her room and lets Anne sob. When Anne’s cries are reduced to sniffles, Cathy walks in. 

“Anne, are you okay?” Cathy whispers. She leads Anne over to her bed and sits down. 

“N-no. Seeing Mary...made me remember why I’m here and not with her.” Anne whispers. 

“Why is that?”

“It wasn’t just because of the abuse, it was also because...because I tried to take my own life.” Anne’s last four words were barely audible. 

Cathy looks at Anne, and a look of worry strikes her face. 

“Annie…”

Anne buries her head into a pillow. 

“Anne, look at me.” Cathy says. “I will do anything,  _ anything  _ to keep you safe, okay?” Anne nods. Cathy takes Anne’s hand and kisses it. 

Anne nods. “Okay.”

The two girls are silent. 

“Twenty-four hours ago, we kissed.” Cathy says out of nowhere. 

“Oh my God you’re right.” Anne says. “Damn, a lot has happened in the past 24 hours.”

“Yeah…”

Anne’s stomach rumbles. Cathy giggles. “We should probably go back to dinner.” Anne says. The two girls run down the stairs and to the kitchen, where everyone is sitting down, dazed.

“Anne, please take note that we have full custody of you.” Jane says. “You can visit your sister, but you need our permission first.” 

“I don’t want to visit her, let alone talk to her.” Anne says definitively. 

“Then it’s settled.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise tomorrow’s chapter will have lots of fluff.


	9. Happy Birthday!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anne’s birthday!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gotta have some fluff before the angst

A few weeks later, Anne woke up extra early. At first, she was confused, but then she remembered. 

It was her eighteenth birthday. 

Quickly, she put on a striped green top and with black overalls that stopped at the knee. Then she ran downstairs. 

Jane was sitting on the sofa knitting. “Anne?” she asked, looking up from her work. “It’s eight a.m. What’s gotten into you?”

“It’s my birthday!” Anne smiled like a little kid. 

Jane smiles. “I’ll just make you your pancakes now, then.” she says as she gets up from the sofa. 

Just then, Kat stumbles down the stairs, Catalina following her. When Kat sees Anne, she launches herself at her in a hug. 

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” Kat shouts. Anne laughs.

“Anna and Cathy are both busy today, but tomorrow you guys can hang out or something.” Catalina says. 

Anne’s mood sours a bit. “Oh.” 

“In the meantime, however, I need you to help me with some errands.” Jane says. “I need to do some clothes shopping, but maybe we can grab some lunch or something while we’re there.” 

Anne nods. She eats her pancakes and gets ready to go with Jane. As soon as they left, Kat immediately looked at Catalina. “Do you think she bought it?” she asks. 

“Looks like it. Hurry, we only have a few hours until they get back.” 

Catalina, Jane, and Kat knew that Anne didn’t really celebrate her birthday for the past few years, so they wanted to make this one extra special. Jane would make Anne tag along on errands until around lunch. Catalina and Kat, along with Anna and Cathy, would set up a party for when Anne got home. 

“I’ll bake the cake. Kat, you call Anna and Cathy, and once they get here, we’ll start setting up.” Catalina says. 

When Anna and Cathy get to the house, the cake is already in the oven. Catalina is making Anne’s favorite lunch (spaghetti) and Kat is building a birthday playlist on her phone. 

“Oh, good, you guys are here. We need someone to blow up some balloons, and someone to hang up streamers.” Kat says. Anna starts up the balloons, which are different shades of green, and Cathy tapes up some streamers. By then, the oven beeps. 

“The cake is ready! Let’s ice it!” Kat says, racing over to the kitchen like a toddler. The day before, Jane had picked out some forest green and silver icing, along with white. The base color would be the white, with a border of silver and the letters would be green. 

When they finished icing the cake, it said. “Happy 18th, Anne!”. Below that were their names. 

  
  


\---

“Jane, how much longer?” Anne says. Jane checks her phone. Catalina texted her a few minutes ago, saying that they were almost done and all they needed to do was wrap presents. 

“Thirty more minutes, Anne.” Jane responds. They walk into Target together to buy some summer clothes. Just then, Jane realized that she forgot to buy Anne a gift. “ _ Shit _ ” Jane whispers under her breath. “Anne, let’s divide and conquer. You go look for some clothes for you and Kat, and I’ll get something for Catalina and I. We’ll meet back here in”, she checks her watch. “Twenty minutes.” 

“On it!” Anne says. She races towards the teen section. Jane sighs, and wracks her brain for a gift for Anne. Then, she spies something out of the corner of her eye. 

It’s a video game section. 

Quickly Jane rushes over to the games, she browses through them until she finds one Anne has been talking about for weeks. 

_ Animal Crossing: New Horizons _

Jane tosses it into her cart and goes over to the women’s clothing section. 

\---

Back at the house, Kat, Anna, and Cathy are wrapping presents. Kat got Anne a beanie, Anna got her a headset for gaming, and Cathy got her some earbuds. 

While Cathy was wrapping her present for Anne, she checked her purse. A little black box was sitting at the bottom, waiting to be opened. Cathy would give it to Anne when they were alone. She hoped Anne would accept it. 

\---

As Jane’s car pulled up to the driveway, Anne noticed that the house was dark. Usually, there were always lights on, but right now, everything was off. Anne shrugged it off as she opened her car door.

“Anne?” Jane asked. She’s smiling. “Close your eyes.”

“Okay…?” Anne said. She covers her eyes with her hands and Jane guides her to the door. She unlocks it, and tells Anne that she can open her eyes. 

“SURPRISE!” Kat, Anna, and Cathy shout. They run toward Anne and give her a massive hug. 

“I thought you all were busy today!” Anne says in shock. Did her family just throw a surprise birthday party for her?

“That was a lie! We had to put on a party for you!” Anna laughs. 

“Wow…” Anne says in wonder. Her favorite song was playing, there was a cake in the kitchen, presents by the fireplace. “This is all so… AWESOME!” she shouts. “Presents?” She looks up at Jane and Catalina. 

“Sure, why not?” Jane says. Catalina shrugs. 

Anne runs over to the fireplace. She opens Anna’s (and thanks her for the headset, she’ll use it a lot),then Kat’s (she laughs at the beanie and thanks Kat for it, because a beanie is necessary for any lesbian) and finally opens Cathy’s (to which she smiles at thanks her girlfriend, she’ll use these earbuds a bunch too). Jane hands her the game, to which she screams and hugs Jane with such force that the blonde woman stumbles backwards. 

“Who wants cake?” Catalina says with a smile. She guides Anne over to the kitchen, where she lights eight candles (who could fit eighteen candles on a cake?) and starts to sing “Happy Birthday”

Anne blows out the candles and makes a wish. She looks up at Cathy and gives her a secret smile, one so quick that nobody else saw it but her. Cathy blushes. 

“What’d you wish for?” Kat asks.

Anne gives another smile at Cathy. “If you tell someone a wish, it won’t come true.”

“So it was about Cathy?” Kat asks, making Anne and Cathy blush. Anne laughs nervously. 

“Maybe, maybe not.” Anne says. “The important thing is, let’s eat this cake!” Everyone cheers. 

Jane slices six pieces of cake for everyone. The cake is chocolate, Anne’s favorite. Catalina gets out some vanilla ice cream to go with it. 

The girls eat their treat at the kitchen table and start talking about upcoming events for them at school. Once both Anne and Cathy are done, Cathy whispers something in Anne’s ear. The latter smiles and says, “Cathy and I are going upstairs for a sec.” 

Catalina protests, but Jane puts a hand on her wife’s shoulder. “Let them go. They deserve it.” she says. 

Cathy pulls Anne upstairs. 

“I know you liked the earbuds I gave you,” Cathy says, “But I want to give you something else.” She reaches into her bag and pulls out a little black box. 

“Oh my God, are you proposing!?” Anne says a little too loudly. 

“Not really.” Cathy says. “This is a promise ring. I want to promise you that I will never cheat or let you go until we tie the knot.”

“You want to get married?!” Anne says. 

“Not yet! We should definitely wait. But in the meantime…I want you to know that I love you. I’m never ever going to forget you, even if life pulls us apart” 

“I promise I won’t ever cheat, or forget, or let you go.” Anne says. 

“I promise to never cheat, or forget, or let you go.” Cathy repeats. 

“HEY CATALINA! I’M KINDA SORTA ENGAGED TO CATHY!” Anne shouts. 

“WHAT?!” Catalina yells back, followed by gasps. 

“IT’S A PROMISE RING, EVERYBODY CHILL.” Cathy shouts. 

Anne and Cathy walk downstairs. 

“What’s a promise ring?” Kat asks. 

“It’s a ring to promise that we won’t forget, cheat, or let one another go until we decide to get married.”

“So it’s definite that you are getting married?” Catalina says. 

“Um, kind of? Is that okay? I should have asked first-” Cathy stumbles over her words

“You have my blessing. And Jane’s too.” Catalina smiles. “You two were meant for each other.”

Kat looks at Anna. “I hope you’re getting ideas.” she says. 

Anna laughs. “Don’t worry, I am.”

Anne kisses Cathy in front of everyone. It’s long and slow, just the way Cathy likes it. 

“Did I tell you what I wished for?” Anne whispers to her girlfriend. 

“What?”

“I wished… for you. For you to stay with me forever. So I’ll never be alone again.”

A tear trails down Cathy’s cheek.

“That’s what I would’ve wished for.” Cathy says. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to apologize for not having a trigger warning when Anne’s suicide was mentioned. Sorry!


	10. My home is your home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cathy is in serious trouble.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so, so sorry.

A week after her birthday, Anne and Cathy were hanging out in Anne’s backyard. 

“Anne, I have to tell you something.” Cathy says, her voice breaking.

Worry strikes Anne. “What is it?” her voice wobbles. 

“I haven’t yet told my parents about you. About us.” Cathy confesses. “I want to, believe me, I do, it’s just that they aren’t accepting of people...like us.” 

“Oh God, Cathy.” Anne whispers. 

“I’m just really scared. What if they find out? Will they get mad? Will they...hurt me? Throw me out? I don’t know what to do!” Cathy says. Tears spring into her eyes. 

“Hey, Cathy. Focus on me.” Anne says. Cathy looks into Anne’s green eyes. “Whatever happens, I’ll be your family. Okay? I’ll always be there for you.” Cathy nods. 

“Can I tell Jane and Catalina?” Anne asks. “They’ll protect you no matter what.”

Cathy nods. “You can tell them. And Kat too.” 

\---

Later that day, at dinner, Anne tells her family what Cathy told her.

“...That’s awful.” Kat breathes. “I can’t imagine that happening to me.”

“Oh my God, that poor girl.” Catalina whispers. 

Jane stays quiet, her lips tightly sealed. 

“...Janey? Is something wrong?” Catalina asks. 

“My parents were the same.” Jane says. 

The room goes silent. 

“If anything happens to her,” Jane says, looking at Anne. “You tell her that she can come here. She can stay here if she needs too.” Catalina nods. 

“Really?” Anne asks. 

“Yes. We trust you. We’ll get another bed for your room or something.” Jane says. “She’s part of our family now.”

Just then, Anne’s phone rang. 

“Can I answer that?” Anne says. Jane nods. Anne rushes over to her phone and looks at the contact. 

It’s Cathy. 

Anne presses the accept button and holds the phone to her ear. 

“Cathy? Cathy are you okay?” Anne says frantically. 

“Anne! Thank God. I told them.” Cathy says. Her voice is shaking, like she had just been crying.

“And…?”

“I need help.”

Anne puts the phone on speaker and turns the volume all the way up. “What kind of help, Cathy?” She asks. 

“They told me to get out!” Cathy sobs. Jane gasps. 

“They told me to leave. They kicked me out, Anne! Like I thought they would!” Cathy’s sobbing on the other end of the line.

“Cathy, where are you. We’re picking you up.” Anne says. Jane grabs the car keys. 

“I’m in front of the school…” Cathy responds. 

“We’re coming now. Hang tight for just a bit.” Anne says before hanging up. She hops in the car next to Jane and they drive to the school. 

When they get there, Cathy is standing outside the front, shivering in the crisp spring air. The only things that she has on her are her purse, backpack, and a bulging duffel bag. When she sees the car, she starts running towards it. 

“Annie! Oh my God, Anne!” Cathy shouts. She runs toward Anne. Up close, Anne can see tear stains criss-crossing Cathy’s cheeks. 

Anne wraps her girlfriend in a hug. Jane takes Cathy’s stuff and puts them in the trunk. 

“Cathy?” Anne says. She sets her hands on Cathy’s shoulders, so that she’s staring right at her. “You’re going to stay with us for a bit, okay? We’ll be together, just like you wanted.” 

“Really?” Cathy asks. “You’ll do that, for me?” 

Jane nods and hugs her. “My parents were like yours. After high school, I never looked back. I know how you feel. You’ll be safe with us.” 

“Thank you. Thank you thankyouthankyou.” Cathy says. She hugs Anne. 

When the three women get back to the Seymour/Aragon/Boleyn/Howard house, Catalina and Kat are waiting outside. Jane puts the car in park and walks out to the trunk to grab Cathy’s things. Anne helps Cathy out of the car.

“ _ Chiquita _ , are you okay?” Catalina says, rushing over to Cathy. The blue girl nods. Catalina wraps her arms around the girl. 

“Cathy, have you eaten anything tonight?” Jane asks. Cathy shakes her head. “Well, don’t just stand there, come inside! We have some leftover spaghetti.” Catalina adds. Anne guides the shaking girl to the house and motions her to sit down at the kitchen table. 

“I can make some hot cocoa for you, or tea, if you like.” Jane says once Cathy’s seated. Catalina serves her a heaping plate of spaghetti. 

“Cathy, can you tell us what happened?” Catalina asks. 

Cathy gives a slight nod. “I told my parents and siblings just before we sat down for dinner. Everyone stopped what they were doing and just stared at me.” her voice cracks. “My mom shook her head and said ‘You don’t know what you’re talking about.’ My dad said that I was going through a phase. I said that I wasn’t, and that this was me. I told them that I still liked boys, that I’m bisexual. My mom...she told me to get out. My dad nodded. I ran upstairs and packed my things, and then they shoved me out the door and watched me walk away.” A tear trickles down Cathy’s cheek. 

“Oh, my God.” Kat whispers. Anne hugs Cathy. 

“Cathy…” Catalina trails off. Cathy looks down at the table and buries her head in her hands, crying softly. Anne scoots her chair over to her and holds her as she cries. 

“Cathy, you can stay here as long as you like.” Jane says firmly. “We’ll squeeze you into Anne’s room, we can get another bed or something. Until then, you can sleep on an air mattress in one of the girls’ rooms. 

Cathy looks up at the blonde woman. “You’d really do that?” 

Anne looks at Cathy straight in the eye. “My home is your home.” Anne says. Cathy lets out a final sob and launches herself at Anne in a hug. Kat, Catalina, and Jane join in, and soon it’s a tight group hug. Then, Jane serves Cathy some leftover spaghetti (as she hadn’t eaten in hours). Once she finished her food, Anne took her stuff upstairs to her room. 

“Oh my God, your room’s a mess.” Cathy says. 

“It’s not  _ that _ messy. You should see Kat’s.” 

Anne opens Kat’s duffel to see a mismatch of clothes. “I grabbed what I could.” Cathy says. “I have all my notebooks and school supplies in my backpack, and I have about forty dollars in cash in my purse.” 

“Okay...you can put your clothes in the top two dresser drawers, and I’ll take the bottom two.” Anne suggests. “I don’t use the desk much, so you can take that and put your writing and school stuff there.”

Cathy nods. Just then, Catalina knocks on the door. “Can I set up the air mattress?” she asks. 

“Yeah, come in!” Anne says. 

Catalina opens the door holding an un-inflated air mattress, and Jane’s behind her holding sheets and a blue comforter. 

As the two elder women inflate the air mattress, they discuss some ground rules. 

“You guys have to understand that we are trusting you that you all won’t-” Jane starts. 

“MOM! It’s not like we’re going to have sex every night!” Anne exclaims. “We aren’t at that...stage yet. Right, Cathy?” Cathy nods

“Anne, I’m just saying-” Jane stops mid sentence, a slow smile spreading across her face. “Anne, did you just call me  _ mom _ ?” 

Anne smiles back. “I think I did.” 

Jane looks like she’s about to cry. Catalina hugs her. “If Jane’s Mom, am I Mama?” Catalina asks. 

Anne shrugs. “I guess so, Mama.” Catalina smiles a grin so joyful Anne’s pretty sure it could cure cancer.    
  


“I hate to interrupt, but we haven’t done the Seymour-Aragon welcoming ritual.” Kat says, poking her head into the room. 

Anne looks at Cathy, who has a confused look on her face. “It’s where you choose a board or video game for us to play.” 

“Oh.” Cathy says. “Do you guys have Trivial Pursuit?” she asks. 

“Oh my God, yes. That’s Catalina’s favorite game.” Jane says. 

“Well, let’s play!” The five women race downstairs.

\---

The Seymour-Aragon-Howard-Boleyn-Parr family played six games of Trivial Pursuit. Cathy won three, Catalina won two, and Jane surprisingly won one. Anne was close to winning against Cathy but lost at the last second, and Kat had lost by  _ one wedge  _ to Catalina once. 

After playing, it was around ten pm so they all got ready for bed. Now, Anne is lying in her bed with Cathy on the floor. Both girls are awake. 

Anne’s wondering how her mother and Mary would have reacted to her coming out. Would they have supported it? Would they even care? Or would she have ended up like Cathy, kicked out of her own home? Anne couldn’t even imagine how terrible Cathy must feel right now.

“Cathy?” Anne whispers. 

“Hm?” Cathy whispers back. 

“Wanna come up here?” 

Anne doesn’t get an answer, but she hears rustling in the dark. “Scoot over,” Cathy whispers as she climbs into bed next to Anne. The two girls are pressed against each other in a slightly awkward position. Cathy drapes her arm over Anne’s back, and Anne starts tracing patterns on the taller girl’s shoulders. 

Anne looks up at Cathy. She can barely see in the dark, but she can tell Cathy’s smiling.

“Earlier today, you said my home is your home.” Cathy says. “Do you mean that?” 

“Of course I do!” Anne says, pecking a kiss on Cathy’s collarbone. “I can’t even imagine how you feel right now, but listen to me. I love you. I love you with every fiber of my being.” Anne says. Cathy smiles, and kisses Anne’s head. Anne looks up at Cathy again and pecks her cheek before kissing her lips. It’s long, slow, and absolutely perfect. 


	11. I just wanna dance with you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s PROM

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Based on the song “Dance With You” from the musical The Prom

It was the third week of May, and prom and graduation was fast approaching. Cathy and Anne were hanging out in their room, doing homework. Both girls had applied to colleges, Cathy to Brown and Columbia University for writing and Anne to University of Southern California for theatre. Both girls applied to UGA.

“So prom’s coming up.” Anne says. 

“Yep.” Cathy says, clearly lost in her work

“We should go together.” Anne says. 

“Hm.” Cathy responds. “Wait, what?” she looks up at Anne. 

“I said we should go to prom together.” Anne replied.

“Wait so, you’re taking me out?” Cathy asked.

“Well, yeah, I mean, we are girlfriends, right?” 

“Yes... holy shit.” Cathy says. 

“What?” 

“Everything’s happening so fast. We’re going to graduate in, like, two weeks! Then I’m going to Brown or Columbia, depending on if I get accepted or not, and you’re all the way to California! What am I going to do without you?!”

“We both applied for UGA, remember?” Anne reminded her. 

“Well, yeah, but who says we’ll both get in?” 

“I don’t know, but let’s hope we do.” Anne says. “In the meantime…”

“Dress shopping.” Cathy finishes. “I’ll ask Catalina to take me, you ask Jane.”

“Okay.” Anne says. “MOM! LET’S GO PROM DRESS SHOPPING!!” 

“WHAT?!” Jane yelled from downstairs. “WHO’S GOING TO PROM?”

“I AM! WITH CATHY! LET’S GO DRESS SHOPPING!” 

“GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE AND LET’S GO!” Jane yells. 

“You do realize you could have just walked downstairs and asked her, right?” Cathy says. 

“Well, yeah, but that’s not fun.” Anne replies as she puts her shoes on. 

\---

When Jane and Anne get to the mall, they are swarmed with loads and loads of prom dresses. 

“Oh my God.” Anne whispers. “Look at all of them!” 

“Anne, let’s go upstairs and find your size.” Jane says, taking Anne by the hand and leading her upstairs. 

When they find Anne’s dress size, they start browsing through the dresses, making note of which ones Anne liked. Eventually, it all came down to three: a shiny black mermaid, an emerald green dress with an empire waist, and a short-sleeved light green dress with a tutu-like skirt that just barely met her knees. 

Anne tries on the last dress and smiles in the mirror. “I think this is the one.”, she says as she opens the dressing room door. 

Jane smiles and claps her hands. “I love it. Do you want to get it?” 

“Of course!”

Jane buys the dress, along with some black flats for shoes and a green clutch. 

“I can’t wait until Cathy sees this.” Anne says as she walks to the car with Jane. 

\---

Speaking of Cathy, she and Catalina went shopping the next day. Cathy smiled at all of the dresses Catalina pointed out, but none were just her fit. There was a midnight blue sequined A-line that was okay, but it wasn’t just right for Cathy. 

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw an outfit that would be perfect. 

In the men’s section, there was a sky blue tuxedo with a ruffled white shirt. 

Cathy tugs and Catalina’s arms. “I found something.” She points to the tux. 

“The tuxedo? You want to wear that to the prom?” Catalina asks. Cathy nods, holding in her breath. 

“I don’t see why you couldn’t wear it, let’s try it on!” Catalina says. She takes one off of the rack and hands it to Cathy, who goes over to one of the dressing rooms. As she buttons up the jacket, she smiles into the mirror. The tux fits perfectly. The blue looks bright and vibrant against her coffee-colored skin, and up close, the shirt has accents of blue on the ruffles, which highlight her eyes. 

“I love it.” Cathy says as she steps out of the dressing room. 

“I do too. Let’s take it!” Catalina says just a bit too loudly. They walk over to the register to pay for the suit. The cashier frowns at it. 

“You are aware this is a men’s suit, right?” she asks. 

Cathy internally rolls her eyes and says, “Yes. We’re aware.”

The cashier looks up at her. “I don’t think this is the right fit for you, hon. Why don’t you and your mom-” she looks at Catalina when she says this “-find a dress for a girl like you.” 

_ A girl like you.  _ The words sting Cathy like a knife. 

“Excuse me, but you’re being very rude to her. We’re taking the suit, and also maybe a call with your customer service.” Catalina spits out at the cashier. The woman rolls her eyes but taps the screen of the register and lets them take the suit. 

“I don’t think we’ll be coming here again.” Catalina mutters. “You okay, Cathy?” she asks when they get in the car. 

Cathy shakes her head. “The way she said  _ a girl like you,  _ it hit close to home.” she takes in a shaky breath. “It’s like she singled me out for not being the norm, when all I ever do is try to fit in.” 

“Cathy, you can’t let bitches run your life like that.” Catalina says. 

“Catalina!” Catalina never swore. 

“It’s the only way I could get my point across with you.” Catalina giggles. “Now, let’s go home. Anne is going to  _ love  _ your outfit.”

Sure enough, when Anne saw the suit, she screamed. “Oh my God! It’s amazing! Holy friggin shit!”

“Swear jar.” Jane says, pointing. Anne sighs and drops two quarters in the jar. 

“Can I see your outfit?” Cathy asks. Anne smiles shyly and pulls Cathy up to their room. She throws open the closet door and pulls it out. 

“Wow.” Cathy says. She admires the frilly skirt. “This is...super freaking cute.” 

“You are going to look so sexy in that tux.” Anne jokes. 

“No, you’re going to look sexy in that dress!” Cathy says. Anne laughs and kisses Cathy on the lips. She intended it to be a peck, but Cathy gripped Anne’s hair on the back of her head and deepened it, making her melt. Anne’s hand travels up Cathy’s back and to her neck, where she tangles her hands in Cathy’s soft brown locks. 

“I absolutely cannot wait for prom.” Anne pulls away and whispers against Cathy’s neck. 

“Whoever’s making out needs to quit it right now, I’m trying to study!” Kat yells from across the hall. 

“Since when do you study?” Anne yells back before pulling Cathy back to her lips. 

“Anne, come on, she asked for us to stop.” Cathy says, pulling away. 

“But where else can I make out with my girl?” Anne says, booping Cathy on the nose. 

“I don’t know, maybe just hold off on the making out until we’re home alone or something?” Cathy says. 

Anne smiles. “I seriously cannot wait until prom.” she says, pulling Cathy into one last, lingering kiss before leaving the room. 

\---

Soon, the day of the prom had come. Cathy, Anne, Kat, along with Anna, were frantically getting ready for their big night. Kat had gotten a hot pink sequined dress that went midway down her shins along with black ankle boots. Her hair was done up in a high ponytail, and she was wearing a black choker. Anna, like Cathy, had gotten a suit, except hers was red and had a lot less ruffles. 

Cathy had forgotten to buy shoes, so she and Jane went racing to the nearest DSW to find some. Anne had surprised everybody with her makeup skills and gave everyone some wicked ombre eyeshadow. 

While Kat and Anna were getting ready in Kat’s room, Anne sat alone in her and Cathy’s bedroom, brushing her hair for the millionth time. She had wanted to do it up in space buns with green ribbons, but just couldn’t get it right. One of them was always lopsided. She sighs as she grabs her hair ribbon and puts her hair up yet again when Cathy barrels into the room, holding a shoebox. 

“Jesus Christ, you scared me!” Anne yells as Cathy sits down on her bed. 

“Sorry, but LOOK AT THESE SHOES.” Cathy replies as she takes her shoes from the box. Anne gasps. They’re a pair of black suede ankle boots with faux jewels embedded in them. 

“They’re… pretty over the top.” Anne says. “They’ll be perfect.”

Just as Cathy pulls them on, Jane yells from downstairs. “EVERYBODY COME DOWN HERE, IT’S PHOTO TIME!” 

All four girls carefully run downstairs and to the lawn. Catalina and Jane have their phones out, and Catalina starts composing how she wants the photos to look. There’s a shot of Kat and Anne, a shot of Kat, Anne, and Cathy, a picture of all four of them, and a million couples photos. Anne’s favorite is one where Cathy is behind her, holding her waist. Her head is tucked into the crook of Anne’s neck. In the photo, Anne is smiling like the sun. She felt amazing, to have everybody she’s ever loved all with her, and her girlfriend, her better half, her  _ soulmate _ , was standing right next to her. 

Just then, a limo pulled up to whisk them away to their prom. Anne felt like she was in a dream. First, she found a beautiful dress, then she got to have a mini-photoshoot with Cathy, and now she’s in a frigging  _ limo _ , about to go dance the night away. 

As they pulled up to the venue, Cathy grabbed Anne’s hand and squeezed. Anne could feel her stiffen as they walked to the front doors. 

“I can’t go in there.” Cathy says quietly, watching Kat and Anna giggle as they walk in. 

“Cathy, what’s wrong?” Anne asks. She’s very worried, Cathy hasn’t been this upset since…

Since her parents kicked her out. 

Anne put the two and two together. “You’re scared of being so public with me, aren’t you? The second we walk through those doors, everyone’s gonna know.” Anne says. 

Cathy nods slightly. “What if they-”

“Don’t finish that sentence. They’re not gonna do anything. And if they do, Kat, Anna and I will kick their asses so hard they’ll see stars.” 

“Anne...are you mad?” Cathy asks. Her voice shakes. 

“No, I’m not.” Anne says. “I want to make sure you feel safe. But it’s also our senior prom!” 

Cathy looks down. 

“I just wanna dance with you. Just one dance. It doesn’t have to be a long one, but I just wanna let the whole world melt away and dance with you. Who cares what other people say?” 

“Alright. One dance.” Cathy says. The two girls walk into the venue and to the dance floor. 

A slow song starts to play, and the two girls start slow dancing. Cathy focuses her eyes on Anne the whole time. Anne smiles, and kisses her girlfriend. Anne hasn’t felt this happy in a long, long time. 

It feels so good. 


	12. I want you to be happy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anne and Cathy graduate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: they do talk about sex, but don’t actually do it
> 
> I always headcanoned Anne as being asexual, so here’s my take on this!

Graduation was a day away, and Anne and Cathy just got their letters from UGA. Cathy had been accepted into Brown, but was rejected from Columbia. Anne got into Southern California, but that meant that Cathy would be across the country from her for most of the year. 

“What if we both get into UGA?” Anne voices her hopes. “We could be roommates, and work together, and-”

“Let’s open the letters! We won’t know if we never open them!” Cathy says over her. 

“Okay…on the count of three.” Anne suggests

“One,” Cathy says.

“Two,” Anne says.

“THREE!” both girls tear open their letters. 

Then, the room explodes. 

“I GOT IN! I GOT IN!” Cathy says. “Did you?” she looks over at Anne. 

Anne holds her letter, tears forming in her eyes. Then, she smiles. 

“I DID! WE’RE GOING TO GEORGIA TOGETHER!” Anne shouts.

“OH MY GOD!” Both girls start screaming and jumping and laughing, completely unaware that Jane and Catalina are at the top of the stairs, hearing every word. 

“Girls,” Jane says. Cathy and Anne look up at her. “Let’s get ready, you’ve got to go to the rehearsal graduation.”

\---

The next day, it was finally, finally, finally graduation. Anne could hardly contain her excitement, or her sadness and melancholy. As she and Cathy walked down the hallway together for the last time, she silently said goodbye to the school, to her home, to her moms and sister. 

But not to her girlfriend. 

“I’m going to miss this dump.” Cathy says as they walk into the auditorium. 

“Me too.” Anne says. “I was only here for two months, but this place was awesome.” 

The girls took their seats as the graduation ceremony began. 

\---

“As this year’s class walks out the doors of this school for the last time, remember the good times and the bad, the love and the hate, and the great and terrible. But, above all else, remember how you felt walking into this school for the first time as you leave.” the principal drones on. “Now, when your name is called, come up and receive your diploma.” 

“Anne Boleyn.”

Anne walks up to the stage, beaming. She looks at the audience, and sees Jane and Catalina crying, Kat and Anna screaming and clapping, and Cathy giving her a smile that made Anne’s heart flutter. She shook her principal’s hand and took her diploma, smiling at the audience as she walked off the stage. 

“Elizabeth Blount.”

“Joan Seymour”

“Maria de Salinas”

“Angelica, Eliza…” the principal squints at his piece of paper “And Peggy Schuyler.”

“Cady Heron.”

“Heather Chandler.”

“Heather Duke.”

“Heather McNamara.”

“Jeremy Jordan.” 

“Catherine Parr.” Cathy is the last student. As she walks up to the stage, Anne tries to meet her eyes. When she does, Anne gives her a smile and flashes her a thumbs up. 

“This is the class of 2021” The students throw their caps up. Anne kisses Cathy’s cheek.

As Cathy and Anne walk out of the school and to Jane’s car, Anne gets a text from Anna. 

Anna: HUGE party @heather c’s tonite. U and Cathy coming???

Anne: maybe, hopefully see u there!

“So, are you going to Heather’s party?” Anne asks Cathy. 

“Maybe, it seems like there’d be a lot of people. And you know me, I’m a huge introvert.” Cathy says.

“But it’ll be so much fun! It’s going to be our last high school party, don’t you want to go?” 

“Well, when you put it like that...yes. Let’s go.” 

\---

That night, at around eight o’ clock, Anne and Cathy go to the party. Whatever Cathy had said earlier about not liking parties, she forgot as soon as she stepped through the door. Anne and Cathy danced like they owned the place. Cathy also had quite a lot to drink, it worried Anne.

“Oh my God, this is so much fun!” Cathy slurred. “We need to come here everrrry niiiiiight.” 

“Every night?” Anne asked. She was beginning to regret coming here. Who knew Cathy would drink this much. 

“Yessss, every night!” 

“Cathy, we should go home.” Anne says, pulling at Cathy’s wrist. 

“What? No! Not yet!” Cathy yells. She pulls away, but she’s so drunk that she ends up stumbling. Anne helps her up and to their car. 

“Anne, have you ever thought about sex?” Cathy asks out of the blue. She almost sounds sober. 

“What?” The question catches Anne by surprise. Sex always seemed like something she had to do eventually, like it was a project. Anne always thought she’d have to suck it up and deal with it. But Cathy had never talked about it, so she assumed that Cathy didn’t want to, or wasn’t ready. When Anne looks back at Cathy, the blue girl is asleep, slightly drooling. 

When they get home, Anne is basically pulling Cathy upstairs. They walk past Catalina and Jane, who are playing cards at the kitchen table. Jane raises an eyebrow. 

“I have it under control.” Anne whispers. “She’s a lightweight, I didn’t mean for her to get like this.” 

Jane nods. “Be more careful next time.” she says. Catalina nods. Anne continues pulling Cathy to their bedroom. 

When Cathy is in bed, Anne starts thinking about Cathy’s question. Have you ever thought about sex? Did Cathy want to go all the way? 

\---

Cathy didn’t wake up until noon the next day. Anne had been thinking about Cathy’s question all night. 

“Hey, Cathy?” Anne asks once the blue girl is awake. 

“Yes?” Cathy asks, rubbing her eyes.

“Are you...sober?” 

“Yep. Why?”

“Last night, you asked me if I...had ever thought about sex. With you. Do you remember that?” Anne asks. 

Cathy pauses. “No. I don’t. I’m sorry. Did I make you uncomfortable?” 

“Well, kind of…I always thought that you didn’t want to. You never brought it up.”

“Annie, I love you.” Cathy says. “You know that. I want us to take this next step, but only if you’re ready.” Cathy looks at Anne, a soft expression on her face. 

Anne doesn’t know what to think. Sex always seemed like something she’d have to get over with, something that she had to do. It made her uncomfortable thinking about it. But she can’t say that to Cathy. Cathy wants it. Cathy wants her. She wants to make Cathy happy. 

Right?

“I don’t-I’m not-I want you to be happy.” Anne says. 

“But Annie, I am happy.” Cathy responds.

“But you just said that you want sex, that you want me. I want to make you happy.”

“But Anne, do you want this?” Cathy asks. 

Anne pauses. Does she really want this? Maybe it doesn’t matter what Cathy wants. 

Of course it does. Anne needed to stop thinking about herself. 

“I don’t want to sound selfish.” Anne says.

“Anne, this isn’t about being selfish. This is about you. Are you ready for this?” Cathy asks. 

“No.” Anne whispers, shaking her head. “I’m not ready. I don’t know if I’ll ever be. But you deserve this-”

“Anne, I don’t deserve anything from you. You, however, deserve to be content with our relationship. If you don’t want sex, then that’s fine. We’ll just stick to first base.” Cathy says.

“Are you sure?” Anne asks. 

“Of course.” Cathy hugs her. “Have you ever heard of the term asexual?” she asks after hugging Anne. 

“I’ve heard of it, don’t know what it means.”

“It means you’re not sexually attracted to people.” Cathy clarifies. 

Anne realized that this sounded like her. She never understood why guys were always shirtless in magazines. She just didn’t understand why people could like that. She always thought that it was because she’s a lesbian, and maybe that was part of the reason. But when she saw girls and women in magazines, clad in barely any clothing, she realized that she didn’t think much of that either. 

“That sounds...like me.” Anne says. “Is that okay?”

“Annie, it’s more than okay! You deserve to feel comfortable in a relationship. I don’t care if it means you don’t want sex.” Cathy says. “I want you to feel good, happy, whatever, at all times. I don’t care what I have to do for that.” 

“Really?” Anne says. 

“Really.” Cathy says back. Anne smiles, and tackles her in a hug. The two stay there, just like that. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got bored with the names of the students can you tell


	13. Epilogue: Five Years Later

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter here we gooooo

So much has happened in the last five years. Anne and Cathy went to UGA together for all four years of college, and graduated last spring with bachelor degrees. They’re now living in Atlanta. Cathy is in the editing process of her first book, it’s going to be published next fall. Anne, with a theatre degree under her belt, has been looking for casting calls.  _ Heathers  _ is supposed to go on Broadway in a few years( **Author note: I wish this was true but it isn’t)** , so Anne has been keeping a lookout for casting calls for that. She’s hoping to land the role of Veronica or Heather Chandler. 

Catalina and Jane are still living happily in their home. They haven’t been terribly busy in a few months, mostly just wistfully remembering the days their daughters lived with them.

Kat and Anna graduated high school three years ago and are still going strong. Kat ended up going to SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design), which wasn’t far from Atlanta, so Anne and Cathy saw her pretty often. Anna tagged along with Kat and is now pursuing a modeling career.

Anne and Cathy are currently living together in an apartment in Inman Park(a sort of burrow in Atlanta, kind of like how NYC has five different burrows). Anne’s happy with her life. 

Except she wants to take things a step further with Cathy. 

“Hey Mom! How’d you propose to Mama?” Anne asks Jane one day over FaceTime. 

“Wait-do you mean-oh my God, are you going to propose to Cathy?!” Jane asks excitedly. 

“I want to. But I don’t really know how.” Anne says, twirling a little black box in her hand. 

“Oh my God. Okay. Oh my God.” Jane repeats. “We’re coming down to Georgia in two weeks, remember?”   
  


“How could I forget?” Anne jokes. 

“Ask her then. That way, Catalina, Kat, Anna, and I will be there.”

“Good advice. Thank you!” Anne says and hangs up the call. Then, she racks her brain for Cathy’s favorite places in Atlanta. She remembers they went to that Sunday market at the Park once, that outdoor shopping center, the art festival-

Then it hits her. 

The day after they graduated college, Anne took Cathy out to the park for a picnic. Cathy had said that she wanted to stay trapped in that picnic forever, because it was the best she’s ever felt. 

Anne was going to make Cathy remember that. 

\---

_ Two Weeks Later  _

Anne, Cathay, Catalina, Jane, Kat, and Anna were enjoying a day at the park. They went to a Sunday Market to browse around, then they got takeout from a pizza place and planned to have a picnic in the park. As they set the blanket down, Anne’s stomach was doing flip-flops. Nobody but Jane knew that she was proposing. Anne was just waiting for the right moment…

“Cathy?” Anne asks a bit too loudly. 

“Yes?” Cathy asks, she looks confused. 

“Do you remember that one day a few months ago, when we picnicked here? You said you’d never felt happier, just laying in the sun with me?” Anne says. Cathy nods. 

“Okay. Good. Do you remember on my eighteenth birthday, when you gave me that promise ring?” Cathy nods. Jane smiles to herself. 

“Okay,” Anne takes a deep breath. “Finally, do you remember the day that your parents kicked you out, and you were at school, crying your eyes out, and we picked you up and took you home with us? Do you remember what I said?” Anne asked. 

“I don’t believe I do.” Cathy responds, clearly confused. 

“I said that my home is your home.” Anne takes in a shaky breath. “But over the years, I realized that my home isn’t your home. Home isn’t a place, it’s a person. And you, Catherine Parr, are my home.” Anne reaches into her pocket to pull out the box. She gets down on one knee, and Cathy’s eyes widen. 

“So, Cathy, will you marry me?” Anne looks up at Cathy. Tears are forming in the blue girl’s eyes. 

“YES! Oh my God, yes!” Cathy cries out. Anne gets up and kisses her while sliding the ring on Cathy’s finger. Cathy steps back to admire it. It’s a diamond with a blue-ish tint, her favorite color. 

Anne looks back to her moms and sister. Jane is smiling, Catalina is crying, and Kat and Anna are jumping up and down, cheering. Anne looks at other people in the park. Everyone is clapping, cheering, or at least smiling. 

“I love you.” Anne turns around to see Cathy smiling. 

“I love you too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for supporting me through this journey. I love you all.


End file.
